Samson C01U Condenser mic (USB only)

I just got this new mic! Samson's new condenser mic is USB direct to the computer. It's powered by the USB cable (5V instead of 48). The digital converter is only an inch from the diaphragm! Zero signal loss.. etc. I just got the second one out the door, we've been waiting for months. For home studio recording this thing is the answer to everyone's prayers.

This mic is phenomenal. Flat response crystal clear... more gain than you can handle. At half volume it redlines over the top... GREAT.

The downside is: you have to turn on your soundcard volume control, but not the soundcard. (This applies only to people running external audio cards and turned the sound card off.)

Anyone who is struggling with poor gain, background hissing, too many cables, power supplies, wall warts, preamps for condensor mics, mixing boards, and Sure mics (heh), microphone batteries. This thing was only $80! Unbelievable..

Samson has a C01 on the website but not the C01U (USB) yet.

I do not represent any commercial interest in any musical product what so ever, just a consumer. Anyone who's about to spend money on the condesor mic routine, should check this out.

Be sure and get the basket too, the bottom of the mic needs the Samson basket.

..been at it for 30+ years..

So.. if the mic is USB does that mean the only way you can monitor is with input monitoring through another sound card ? What is you run ASIO driver ? How do you have both going at once ? Seems to me like that would be un-usable unless you had WDM drivers for both the sound card and the mic and could get the latency down to some tiny value. It look handy.. I'm just not sure how it would work in practice ?

Frank Coffey - Songwriter
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=790131

Good questions: Cakewalk recognizes it as another device in the drop down window of the "input" box of each track, simply select the mic rather than the sound card. It appears only on the input audio list. I still have to choose an output for the track.

I currently have MOTU 2408 with 24 outs, but a sound card would work also.

Plug in the mic, windows recognizes it and uses "universal" drivers.
reboot, open Cakewalk and there it is. Be sure you read about some problem with Win98, which they admit and I didn't mess with.

I just can't believe how simple and effective it is. I have 3 other condensors that I need to cable up, preamp, wall warts etc.

Sample in the field with a laptop! The laptop, mic and the cable is all I need.

This is going to change the playing field for the budget studios.

david

ORIGINAL: DavidBrown99

Good questions: Cakewalk recognizes it as another device in the drop down window of the "input" box of each track, simply select the mic rather than the sound card. It appears only on the input audio list. I still have to choose an output for the track.

I currently have MOTU 2408 with 24 outs, but a sound card would work also.

Plug in the mic, windows recognizes it and uses "universal" drivers.
reboot, open Cakewalk and there it is. Be sure you read about some problem with Win98, which they admit and I didn't mess with.

I just can't believe how simple and effective it is. I have 3 other condensors that I need to cable up, preamp, wall warts etc.

Sample in the field with a laptop! The laptop, mic and the cable is all I need.

This is going to change the playing field for the budget studios.

david

Ok, so what type of driver is the MOTU using, ASIO or WDM ?

Frank Coffey - Songwriter
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=790131

ORIGINAL: DavidBrown99

I just got this new mic! Samson's new condenser mic is USB direct to the computer. .... This mic is phenomenal. Flat response crystal clear... more gain than you can handle. At half volume it redlines over the top... GREAT.

... Anyone who is struggling with poor gain, background hissing, too many cables, power supplies, wall warts, preamps for condensor mics, mixing boards, and Sure mics (heh), microphone batteries. This thing was only $80! Unbelievable..

David,

Thanks for posting this. I have been impressed with some of the Sansom mike range for dsome time now ... there's a lot of snobbery against them because of their Chinese origin and budget price, but ...

... I've got two C03s and a Samson Drumkit Mike Set. When they're they're the right mike for the job, they're spot on the mark. I have several AKG, Rode, CAD, Shure and Studio Projects mikes - and at least two clients who refuse to let me get even near to their acoustic guitars with anything except the C03s! (Like you, by the way, I have no commercial interest in saying this).

Geoff Francis - Huon Delta Studios

AMD Opteron 246 2GHZ twin CPU
Tyan S2875 AVRF Dual M'board
2 Gig RAM, Three Monitors w NVIDIA GeForce FX5700
Alesis iO26, 2 NTFS Seagate HD
DigitalDesign Speakers

The MOTU can use both drivers you mentioned, it's Mac or PC, I'm currently using WDM. Basically the mic was plug and play. The important thing was how GOOD it sounds.

I'm bypassing the preamp, mixing console, patch bay.. everything. The mic is sending the digital signal directly from the AD converter near the diaphragm in the mic to the hard drive. The "signal path" is only 1 inch long.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/C01usb/

ORIGINAL: DavidBrown99

The MOTU can use both drivers you mentioned, it's Mac or PC, I'm currently using WDM. Basically the mic was plug and play. The important thing was how GOOD it sounds.

I'm bypassing the preamp, mixing console, patch bay.. everything. The mic is sending the digital signal directly from the AD converter near the diaphragm in the mic to the hard drive. The "signal path" is only 1 inch long.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/C01usb/

Yeah.. that's what I thought. There is no way to use more then one audio device with ASIO so you have to run WDM. What's worse many cards have no WDM driver or the WDM driver latency is worse then the ASIO latency. There is no way in the world to monitor that mic without latency and with 90 % of sound cards unacceptable latency for any application. This made worse by the fact that you can't use ASIO and as you add plugins and tracks you might even have to bump it up even more. Some cards have no WDM driver and will not work at all with this thing. Doesn't matter how good it sounds if you can't monitor while you record.

Frank Coffey - Songwriter
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=790131

I didn't think of that. I have incredible horsepower and hardware so it worked right out of the box. What test would be the most useful to determine some of these problems? I have a bunch of other computers here. (no macs except an old SE30) . I have a Gateway with onboard sound at 700MHz and an HP with onboard sound at 1 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz. And I have a Tascam USB122 I can move around. What single test would be the best starting point?

Since I have the first one in town I'de be willing to run a few tests. (give me a few days too, I'm old :-)

I'll be back tomorrow, 'jammy time'.
db

ORIGINAL: DavidBrown99

I didn't think of that. I have incredible horsepower and hardware so it worked right out of the box. What test would be the most useful to determine some of these problems? I have a bunch of other computers here. (no macs except an old SE30) . I have a Gateway with onboard sound at 700MHz and an HP with onboard sound at 1 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz. And I have a Tascam USB122 I can move around. What single test would be the best starting point?

Since I have the first one in town I'de be willing to run a few tests. (give me a few days too, I'm old :-)

I'll be back tomorrow, 'jammy time'.
db

Well, since this is the Sonar forum a PC and Sonar is all you would need. Latency can depend on CPU speed but with most modern machines you would even think of running Sonar on the sound card drivers are going to be the main difference. There will be a little latency going in and going out so the round trip will add up. See how low you can get it with only a few tracks and no plugins first, it will only get worse from there.

Most folks don't use input monitoring at all for this reason. Some use an external hardware mixer or interface with with a zero latency DSP mixer. Having to use input monitoring all the time would be a real drag unless you have the best card / driver combo out there and can stand a 10ms or so. I just can't record like that. I got too use to real time monitoring before I started using a computer.. I just can't keep the groove of the song going with the delay.

Frank Coffey - Songwriter
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=790131

ORIGINAL: ohhey
I got too use to real time monitoring before I started using a computer.. I just can't keep the groove of the song going with the delay.

I don't even want to think about getting used to delay like that, and what it would do to my "groove".

Psalm 30:12 (then click the "C" on the left)
On God's Kingdom and its Relevance
Fast Forward... to the End of Days

Just as an information, BLUE also has a USB mic coming up: the snowball. It should sell for about $140. I am anxious to see how this one performs.

Greetings David,

This Samson C01U is phenomenal. Flat response crystal clear... more gain than you can handle. At half volume it redlines over the top... GREAT.

Now that you've used this mic for a while, how does it sound? I have several clients and friends who want a simple way to record reasonably high-quality audio of voice overs and simple instrumentals. I can't think of an easier way than plugging in a USB mic and using one of Cakewalk's cheaper products. But, if the sound is trash, then forget it. So can anyone provide a review?

BTW, Blue announced the Snowball at NAMM in January, but where is it?



Thanks,
David

ASUS M3A78 AMD 9950 Quad 2.6G 8GB
Shure • Rhode • Audio-Technica • Allen&Heath GL2200-24
MOTU 24i • Presonus Firepod • E-MU 1212m • Zoom H2
SONAR 2XL-8PE • Sound Forge 1-9 • Audacity 0.1-1.3

DavidBrown99 wrote,

"... I just can't believe how simple and effective it is. I have 3 other condensors that I need to cable up, preamp, wall warts etc.

Sample in the field with a laptop! The laptop, mic and the cable is all I need.

This is going to change the playing field for the budget studios. ..."

Hey David,

I tried the Samson C01U today at Sam Ash.
They had a XP SP1 computer connected thru a high end PCI sound card (M-audio 2496) with external M-audio mixer connected to the PCI card with some proprietary parallel cable.

We first tried Cubase (LE, I think).
They could record the mic, but could not get its output for real time monitoring, out of Cubase, while recoding.

They then tried Sony Sound Forge, and we were able to monitor while recording. But there was a noticeable delay. When you selected the WDM MME recording device as C01U, you could NOT use the ASIO driver for the sound card (M-audio 2496)??


I assume you use Cakewalk Home Studio? What version?
Are you using the Tascam US-122 USB or the Motu?
I think the Tascam comes with Cubase LE. Why do you use Cakewalk instead?
Are you sure there is no perceivable delay when monitoring?
What settings do you use to avoid any monitor latency with the C01U?
As you know there was NO driver to install with the C01U. It just uses the Windows WDM MME32 driver. Can that be used with a ASIO playback soundcard driver. If most of the delay is in the C01U WDM MME32 driver then I do not see how ASIO for the ouput driver can overcome that.
Samson websit mentions a window applet to be available soon. Is that a replacement driver with less latency? Is it ASIO?

If you could provide me with some assurance there is no delay when monitoring the C01U in Cakewalk Home Studio, and the setting you use to achieve that, then I am inclined to purchase and try out for myself.

Maybe you could post a picture of your settings?

Thanks.

Greetings all,

I never did get any feedback on how this mic sounded, but I couldn't pass up a deal at Sam Ash for $79.95 so I picked up a couple. I have used it for simple voice-over work and am very impressed with it's clean neutral sound and the wide acceptance angle of a simple cardiod microphone (I use super-cardiod so much for live sound reinforcement that I had forgotten how forgiving the good old-fashioned cardiod is). This was the simplest thing I have ever setup --- just plug it in and it's detected and installed. Out of curiosity I enabled the record echo --- the delay is absolutely unuseable, but that doesn't affect me, but it might be a consideration for others.

Regards,
David

ASUS M3A78 AMD 9950 Quad 2.6G 8GB
Shure • Rhode • Audio-Technica • Allen&Heath GL2200-24
MOTU 24i • Presonus Firepod • E-MU 1212m • Zoom H2
SONAR 2XL-8PE • Sound Forge 1-9 • Audacity 0.1-1.3

ORIGINAL: dcastle

Greetings all,

I never did get any feedback on how this mic sounded, but I couldn't pass up a deal at Sam Ash for $79.95 so I picked up a couple. I have used it for simple voice-over work and am very impressed with it's clean neutral sound and the wide acceptance angle of a simple cardiod microphone (I use super-cardiod so much for live sound reinforcement that I had forgotten how forgiving the good old-fashioned cardiod is). This was the simplest thing I have ever setup --- just plug it in and it's detected and installed. Out of curiosity I enabled the record echo --- the delay is absolutely unuseable, but that doesn't affect me, but it might be a consideration for others.

Regards,
David

The main reason the delay is such a big issue with this device is that there is no work around. You can't use an external mixer.

Frank Coffey - Songwriter
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=790131

ohhey wrote, "... The main reason the delay is such a big issue with this device is that there is no work around. You can't use an external mixer. ..."

So, is the consensus here that you CANNOT use this "fabulous" new technology for live playback, aka monitor of the vocalist?
Anyone here able to use the C01U to hear the vocalist is real time?

Samson's web site mentions soon to be released "Windows appelet". Will this cure the delay? I sent Samson an email, but so far no response.

I was hoping for a laptop LESS IS MORE, LIVE road use for the C01U.
I was going to try something like the Edirol UA-1EX as the "soundcard" for external USB D/A output.
Is there a better LESS IS MORE choice?

Unless this microphone's monitor delay can be overcome, then this mic is NOT ready for LIVE stuff.
Sheesh ... it is hard to hard to believe, that somone could release the C01U microphone, when the basic function of a mic, i.e. to hear what is vocalised at the moment is it vocalized, cannot be achieved.

Are we getting this wrong? Anyone have success with the C01U for LIVE use?

So.. if the mic is USB does that mean the only way you can monitor is with input monitoring through another sound card ?

Eeeek! No way I could deal with that. I am definitely a mixer oriented kind of guy. I lasted about a week in a mixerless environment. Couldn't take it and bought a small one until I found the one I wanted.

I usually do my vocals last and that requires me to have a ligher latency than I could deal with tracking with real time monitoring.

Dave Modisette

Gatortraks
My music.
My Gatortraks and Friends Forum

it is hard to hard to believe, that somone could release the C01U microphone, when the basic function of a mic, i.e. to hear what is vocalised at the moment is it vocalized, cannot be achieved.

There's a much bigger world of sound than just live sound reinforcement. This may be a problem for you, but it certainly isn't for me. The right tool for the right job!

Regards,
David

ASUS M3A78 AMD 9950 Quad 2.6G 8GB
Shure • Rhode • Audio-Technica • Allen&Heath GL2200-24
MOTU 24i • Presonus Firepod • E-MU 1212m • Zoom H2
SONAR 2XL-8PE • Sound Forge 1-9 • Audacity 0.1-1.3

Here's the follow up: roadtesting the C01U. Test Platform:
1- HP XW6200 Dual Pentium running Sonar 4, MOTU 2408mk3 (PCI card with breakout box for monitoring.)
2- Vaio Laptop 466 MHz (USB in, soundcard out) Cakewalk ProAudio 9.x

Desktop testing: Installation is simple, plug it in and it appears in the driver list of the application.
Monitoring: considerable delay that is not useful for multitracking, period. Regardless of setup, drivers, etc.
I believe this problem is cause by the windows drivers for the mic being separated from the host application and the priortiy processing occurs in the Cakewalk and the windows performs cleanup duties on the side. The calkwalk moves ahead smoothly (regardles of number of tracks) while the USB Mic track falls behind by a variable amount. The variability occurred regardless of settings, hardware, software or drivers. The delay was from 1-5 seconds and occurred durring the startup process then held 'sort of' steady for the remainder of recording run. The problem- the USB Mic is actually being recorded in a separate application (Windows) that's not synchronized to the cakewalk.

Laptop testing: Live recording/no monitoring. It recorded with expected condenser mic quality in a linear fashion. This is the real purpose of this Mic. Take it to an event of any type and it will record things perfectly. Level setting must be done with the meters in Cakewalk and it works perfectly.

Final Outcome: Great cheap high quality mic for location recording and totally useless for multitracking.

If you want to record a live performace in a living room and take it back to the studio for polishing this is GREAT. (once I have the track in the application, I can sync to it on the rest of the tracks)

Record for transcription or evidenciary reasons? I recorded using "Music Match" direct to MP3. It works just fine. Matter of fact it could record hours and hours using very little hard drive space. A high quality dictaphone! :-)

DavidBrown99, thanks for your report. That would seem to rule out using the C01U, with Windows XP, for my applications, which required the audience to hear the voice+soundtrack in real time.

Thanks to Bill Gates, it is apparently very hard to write effective programs, (even when millions of machine level instructions can be executed per second) that provide a stable, <1 msec, path from a USB port back out a USB port.

Hey, I had an idea.
If, as you wrote, after startup, the latency for the microphone round trip path is stable, then perhaps we could deliberately add a latency/delay to the disk resident soundtrack path which exactly matched the C01U latency.

The mixed voice+(delayed)soundtrack would get to the audience's ears synchronized.

The vocalist could wear earphones, which would be provided only with the UNdelayed disk resident soundtrack. She would hear her voice un-amplified, but in synch. I guess a close sitting audience might notice a lip synch issue, but might this work and be acceptable?

Would this work? Once the deliberate soundtrack latency was setup in Cakewalk, it could be used kind of automatically for the rest of the performance. Maybe a program to "tune" Cakewalk for the C01U could be run just once?

I tried that already. the delay is UNstable.

Problem is the delay of the USB mike can't be predicted. That's why I said the delay was 1-5 seconds. That meant that EVERY TIME I started Cakewalk to record the offset was a little different and I had to set the delay again. I tried it with software and an external hardware delay unit.

Bummer, but I still use it for location recording of a single track. It sure makes my location recording gig bag light! :-) Laptop+mic and that's all.

DavidBrown99 wrote, "... That meant that EVERY TIME I started Cakewalk to record the offset was a little different and I had to set the delay again. I tried it with software and an external hardware delay unit.

Very disappointing.
5 seconds ... wow ... what could possibly be causing this?
We could look at that part of the audio pipeline before Cakewalk gets to see the bit stream, and/or the audio pipeline after Cakewalk tries to introduce a deliberate latency/delay. You said that you tried an external hardware delay. I a.s.s.u.m.e you mean two exernal D/A converters where you could delay just the microphone stream and then mix. Was the external mixer in the digital or analog realm? In any case, your testing would seem to implicate a sgnificant variable latency problem in that part of the audio chain before the microphone stream is available to Cakewalk.

I once wrote software to try a Windows laptop to measure human response time to pictures and words. After much effort designing the experiment and analysing the results, I discovered that Windows could NOT be relied on to report time difference between real time human actions, like pressing a key on the keyboard!! But that variability was in the msec realm. Something is inherently wrong with the Windows software architecture to introduce variable multi second delays.

Someone with the guts, time, and patience ought to start wrting single purpose code that boots from a USB connected key ring, and takes over the hardware completely, banishing anything having to do with Windows and its mulit-level poorly documented APIs.

Did Windows at least draw a nice hour glass while it was doing its undocumented invisible magic? :)

BTW, I had to write "a.s.s.u.m.e", with embedded periods, because the forum software here, filters out the a.s.s part. We have lost control of the milllions of instuctions per second capability of the hardware. Too many layers, too many players. Software to change/customize the icon used for the "hour glass", and NO software for eliminating it.

That's why I said the delay was 1-5 seconds.

For what it's worth I didn't see anything like this. It was more like 100mS, like the PA at a ball game, just at the point where it makes you want to slow down for the sound to catch up. Unuseable for live monitoring, but not 5 seconds. But, this may also depend upon your latency settings in SONAR.

Regards,
David

ASUS M3A78 AMD 9950 Quad 2.6G 8GB
Shure • Rhode • Audio-Technica • Allen&Heath GL2200-24
MOTU 24i • Presonus Firepod • E-MU 1212m • Zoom H2
SONAR 2XL-8PE • Sound Forge 1-9 • Audacity 0.1-1.3

ORIGINAL: DavidBrown99

Monitoring: considerable delay that is not useful for multitracking, period. Regardless of setup, drivers, etc.

Something I'm not clear about. When you write "useless for multitracking", do you mean when one wants live monitoring of the part being recorded on the C01U, or even if monitoring is turned off?

It seems clear, from the posts here, that there is too much latency in monitoring this microphone, that you hear the sound too late. But--what about if you are recording vocals in Sonar with pre-recorded (or MIDI) instrumental tracks, and you do not have monitoring turned on the vocal track while recording? When the recording is played back, will the vocal track (recorded with the C01U) later than the other tracks?

If so, I don't see much use for this microphone. You write that it is good for recording live performances, etc. But--unless it is a performance of a solo instrument or voice without accompaniment, or a monologue, wouldn't a stereo microphone be better for such a purpose? (I guess one could use two of these, plugged into two USB ports, to record in stereo, if the latency would be the same on both, but that would be rather cumbersome.)

So, does your statement about being no good for multitracking only apply if the track being recorded with the mic is being monitored? Or even if it's not?

If the latter, that's unfortunate, as it seemed like a good idea, a decent mike for music that could be plugged directly into USB. Sure, one wouldn't expect the same quality as with a better mic through a good pre-amp, but if the sound is decent, direct into USB certainly has a nice convenience factor. But if useless for multitracking, even when not monitored, not worth buying. (Sure, one could move the track up afterwards to try to put it in sync with the other tracks, but where's the convenience there??)

Anyone tried the other USB music mic that has come out recently, the Blue Snowball. It is more expensive than the C01U, selling for around $140, while the C01U sells everywhere for $80. (That wasn't a "special deal" you got at Sam Ash, by the way, even if that's what they told you. Look at other music vendor's web sites. $80 seems to be the price of the C01U everywhere.) The Snowball has a switch with which you can switch it between being cardoid and omnidirectional, and another setting as well. Does it have the same latency problem though?

just an fyi... you can get considerably less latency using the asio4all driver wrapper.

I got one of these last night, and just tried it a little so far, only as of yet with the Windows built-in USB audio driver.

To answer my own question--the latency problem is only an issue with monitoring. If, for instance, you record a vocal track, to pre-existing backing tracks, and have monitoring turned off for that vocal track while recording it (assuming you can hear your own voice singing, without hearing it monitored) , then afterwards play back the piece, there is no latency problem on playback. That vocal track is in sync with the backing tracks, there is no delay, etc.

But yes, absolutely impossible to have monitoring of the track recorded with this microphone turned on while recording (using that default Windows driver), as the delay in the monitored track is unbearable. It appears (from other posts) that this problem is greatly alleviated by using the ASIO4ALL driver.

What's strange is--C01U's own driver, which is missing! The manual that comes with the mic describes in detail how to use its own driver, you see pictures of its screen, etc. That driver is supposed to add various features and configurations, such as low-pass filter, etc.

But-----unlike other hardware, no CD (with driver) is included in the package! The manual says you can download it from the manufacturer's web site. However, it's not there, just a message to leave your e-mail address for them (Samson), so that they can notify you when the driver download becomes available. No predicted date. Anyone found out anything about this? Rather strange--the manual tells you all about a non-existent driver! I wonder if they ran into some sort of problem with the driver, then decided to release the hardware anyhow, although the driver wasn't ready.

I don't know if their driver deals with the latency issue, but it certainly should!

Answer to Statement "useless for multi-tracking" applies to using it when other tracks in a song are already laid out." It's GREAT for recording one pass with a laptop if I don't have to player track/sync to anything as the song rolls.
I already have too much gear to back up and change drivers and hardware for an inexpensive mic. like this.
I too, await driver correction/production/release from Samson which has been slow. Perhaps the mic was never intended for studio work? I notice other studio level guys are not climbing all over it. A friend of mine in Nashville (A team) never heard of it..
The problem may indeed be that the windows native driver is actually running a simultaneous recording program parallel to the Cakewalk and although Cakewalk sees it as a track it's not really in Cakewalk?
Time to call out the binary guys and analyze this. It's beyond my skills, I'm a user/musician and not a computer guy. Perhaps a new thread would post the question to the group without causing people skip the thread because it's posted as hardware specific? david

Hmm, USB mic, eh? Seems ideal for plugging into a laptop for live recording of bands, boardrooms, and etc., laying down a singer-songwriter's sketch, but not for overdubs. I guess I won't toss my mic pre's and sound cards yet.

Thanks for reviewing this David.

ORIGINAL: DavidBrown99

Answer to Statement "useless for multi-tracking" applies to using it when other tracks in a song are already laid out."

???? Did you read my recent post. That's not true. It is only the case if you need to monitor the track you are recording with the C01U. If monitoring is turned off for the track, you can record with pre-existing tracks, with no sync problem. (I assume you can hear your voice while you sing, even if it isn't coming through the speakers.)

I notice other studio level guys are not climbing all over it. A friend of mine in Nashville (A team) never heard of it..

So what, that a friend in Nashville hadn't heard of it. It is a new thing. And of course it isn't intended for professional studio work. No professional recording studio is going to use $80 microphones, nor are they going to forego using their expensive pre-amps. Its intended use is for hobbyists like you and me, especially for portable laptop use, etc., not having to carry around so much gear, convenience, etc. I'm sure Samson doesn't expect this microphone to be used in professional recording studios. (Oh--does the word "other" in your quote above indicate that you are one of those "studio level guys", not a "hobbyist"? If so, that's hard to believe.)

The problem may indeed be that the windows native driver is actually running a simultaneous recording program parallel to the Cakewalk and although Cakewalk sees it as a track it's not really in Cakewalk?

What????? That doesn't make any sense at all!!! This mic doesn't even come with a CD, or software to download. How can it "run a simultaneous recording program"?

Time to call out the binary guys and analyze this. It's beyond my skills, I'm a user/musician and not a computer guy.

OK, "binary guys", you're called! (LOL)

ORIGINAL: codashome

Hmm, USB mic, eh? Seems ideal for plugging into a laptop for live recording of bands, .......

I wouldn't say a single monaural hypercardoid microphone is "ideal for live recording of bands..."